Bead-wrapping apparatus.



G. MCNEILL.

BEAD WRAPPING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED AUG- I0. I9I6.

Patented Mar. 11, 1919..

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Patented Mar. 11,1919.

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nvm/rol? I l G r W/T/Q/Cjm G. McNEILL. BEAD WRAPPING APPARATUS.

u APPLICATION FILED AUG. IO. I9|6 G. MCNEILL BEAD WRAPPING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. I0. I9I6.

Patented Mar. 11, 1919.

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GEORGE MCNEIIAI, 0F DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR T0 MORGAN t WRIGHT, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

BEAD-WRAPPING APPARATUS.

speeiea'eien or Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 11, 1919.

To aZZ whom it may concern.' Y Be it known that l, GEORGE MCNEILL, a citizen of the United States, residin at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and tate of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bead-Wrapping Apparatus, of which the following is aful clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to bead covering apparatus. In the manufacture of tires it is customary to employ beads which are formed of hard rubber and serve to stiit'en the tires at the edges. Usually the beadgis tubed in the form of a ribbon of triangular'cross-section and is then cemented and covered with rubber treated fabric which serves to strengthen the union between the bead and f the fabric layers at the edges-0f the tire. The fabric covering o eration is usuallyperformed by hand. he apparatus of the resent invention is designed to cover the ad with fabric mechanically, and in a continuous operation.

The invention can be readily understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in l which-- Figure 1 is a plan view of the apparatus.

Fig. l2 1s a s1de elevation of the apparatus. Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional -v1ew on the line 3-3 Fig. 2.

i Fig. i is an enlarged cross-sectional view on the line 4--4 Fig. 2.

Figs. 5 to 9 inclusive are fragmentary detail views showing successive stages of the wrapping operation and the finalrtrimming operation. I

. Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional view on the line 1e-1o,Fig. 2. Fig. 11 is a cross-sectional view on the line 11--11', Fig. 2.

Referring now to the drawings, in which like characters of reference designate similar parts, the invention is shown to comprise a table 10 Ito which is secured a bed plate 11 from which rises a casing 12. To one side of the casing are attached feeding rollers 13-14, four pairs of covering rollers 15-16, 17w-18, 19-20, 21-22, and a' rotary cutter and shear 23-24. The bead 25 passes in substantially a straight line through the various mechanisms in the order abovey ers have their axes disposed at right angles to each other, as shown in Figs. 5 to 8, so that the fabric will be bent in anew direction by each succeeding pair of rollers and thus is shaped successivel to cover the three sides of the triangular ead, beginning at one edge and ending at the same edge. curved plate 27 is positioned between the first `and second sets of covering rollers and assists said second set of rollers in bending the fabric. The edges of the fabric strip, which meet and overlap, produce a selvagc or surplus fabric which is trimmed oli' as the bead passes between the cutter and shear 23-24, so that a butt joint of the edges of the fabric is made.

Referring more specifically to the details, the lower feeding roller 14e is positively rotated from a main drive shaft 28 by meshing gears 29-30. The upper feeding roller 13 is pivoted on a shaft 31 and is pressed by a helical spring 32 toward the lower roller. The bead is thus pressed by the upper roller againstthe rotating lower roller and thereby fed progressively into-the machine. A control lever 33 for stopping the machine is connectedpin any suitable manner to the source of power (not shown) and hooks into a notch in a pivotedlevers. The latter is dislodged by an arm 35 on the pivot shaft 31 of the upper roller when the upper roller drops down on to the lower roller after the rear end of the bead passes through the rollers and releases the control lever which then shuts oli` the power. The feeding rollers yare shaped to conform partially to the contour of the bead and thus easily receive and guide' the -be'ad accurately to the wrapping rollers.

The upper roller 15 of the first pair of wrapping rollers is positively rotated by a gear 36 which meshes with the driving gear 29 of the lower feeding roller. The lower roller 16 is hinged to the casing by a frame 37 which is normally held in operative position by interlocking spring pressed latches 38-39. When the latches are released the 'roller 16 may be rocked down to facilitate threading of the initial ends of the fabric strip and bead between the rollers. The function of these two rollers is to press the bottom face of the bead into snug engagement with the strip of fabricA and thus cause adhesion of the fabric to this face of the bead. The lower roller is provided with a flange for guiding the strip during its passage between the rollers, and the upper roller is provided with a circumferential groove 41 which receives the convex side of the bead and vso guides the bead relatively to the fabric that the outer edge of the bottom face of the bead is in coincidence with the outer edge of the strip of fabric, as shown in Fig. 5. As shown in Fig. 4, the strip of fabric is guided accurately on to the lower roller by guides 42-13 which engage the edges of the strip while it passes over a rod 44 of the frame 37 on the way to the rollers.v The flange 43 is moved by an adjusting screw 45 toward and away from the flange 42 -to receive various widths of the fabric.

Adjacent to the second set of covering rollers is the above mentioned arched plate 27 which engages the unused laterally projecting portion of the strip shown in Fig. 5 and bends the same upwardly. The function of the second set of covering rollers 17-18 is to press the convex face of the bead against this upwardly bent portion of the strip of fabric and thus cause adhesion of this portion of the strip to this face of the bead. For this purpose the inner roller 17 is formed with a circumferential groove'46 into which the up-turned portion of the strip and convex face of the bead are forced by the outer roller 18, which is shaped peripherally to engage the concave face of. the bead. As the strip of fabric leaves the roller17 the bead is adherent with its bottom. face and its convex face thereto, and the Fig. 10, the shafts unused portion of the strip projects outwardly beyond the bead as shown in Fig. 6. Both the inner roller aud the outer roller are positively rotated in unison to effectively press the fabric into snug engagement with the bead, and for this purpose, as shown in 47-48 of the rollers arev connected by meshing gears 49-50. A drive shaft 51 journaled in the casing rotates the shaft of the inner roller 17 by meshing gears 52-53 and is itself rotated as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, by a chain drive 54 from the shaft of the upper roller of the rst set of covering rollers. The outer roller 18 is hinged to the shaft housing 55 by a pivoted' yoke 56 and is spring pressed toward the inner roller by a helical spring'57 to force the bead and strip into the groove of the inner roller as above explained, Y

The function of the third set of covering rollers 19-20 is to bend the strip downwardly over the concave face of the bead and press the upper rounded corner of the bead against this bent portion to cause adhesion of this portion of the strip to this corner of the bead. For this purpose the upper roller 19 is formed with al circumferential groove 58 which receives the unused portion of the strip shown in Fig. 6

' of the bead.

and dellects the same downwardly.v The bead with the fabric strip adherent to two of its faces is forced into said groove by the lower roller 20 and the upper rounded corner of the bead is thereby ressed against the downwardly bent part of) the strip. As the strip leaves the roller 19 the bead is adherent thereto with its bottom face, convex face, and upper rounded corner, and the unused portion of the strip projects downwardly along and beyond the concave face of the bead, as best shown in Fig. 7. Both rollers are rotated in unison to effectively press the fabric into snug engagement with the bead, and for this purpose, as shown 1n Fig. 11, the shafts 59-60 of the rollers are geared together by meshing gears 61-62, and the shaft 59 of the upper roller is positively driven by a chain drive 63 from the shaft of the upper roller of the first set of the covering rollers. The lower roller 20 is hinged to the. casing by a pivoted yoke 64 and is spring pressed toward the upper roller by a helical spring 65 to force the bead and strip into the groove of the upper roller as above explained.v

The function of the fourth set of covering rollers 21-22 is to press the downwardly bent unused portion of the strip shown 1n Fig. 7 into snug engagement with the concave face of the bead and thus cause adhesion of this portion of the strip to this face For this purpose the roller 21 is formed with a circumferential groove 66 into which the bead with the strip adherent to two faces and one corner thereof is forced by the outer 'roller 22, which is shaped to conform to the curvature of the concave face of the bead and presses the strip against this face of the bead. As the strip emergesfrom between the rollers 21-22 the bead is adherent throughout to the strip, and the unused portion of the strip projects downwardly below the bead and overlaps the first applied edge of the strip at the lower outer edge of the bead. In'y this instance also, both the inner roller and the outer roller are positively rotated in unison to effectively press the fabric into snug engagement with the bead and as the gear mechanism, etc., is

a duplicate 0f the mechanism described in connection with the second set of covering rollers 17-18, a description thereof will be dispensed with. These rollers are driven by a chain drive 67 from the drive shaft 51 of the second set of coverin rollers.

The fabric covered bead passes from the final lset of covering rollers to the rotary cutter 23 and shear 24 which are positioned to intercept the surplus unused fabric at the lower edge of the bead, and cut off the same so that a butt joint is 'produced at the meeting of the edges of the strip. During the cutting operation, the bead is supported opposite the cutter and shear by rollers 68 each 7 7 and is locked in adJusted positions by a set screw 78.

After the surplus fabric is trimmed off the covered bead, the latter passes between a set of rollers 79-80 which are shaped to nearly surround the bead and serve. to press the fabric throughout into intimate contact with `the bead, and also coact with the final set of covering rollers 21-22 in progressively advancin shear. T is final set of rollers is driven by gear mechanism which is a duplicateof the gear mechanism above described in connection with the third set of covering rollers 19-20 consequently further `description is unnecessary. The rollers 79--80 are driven by a chain drive 81 from the drive shaft ofthe final set of covering rollers as shown in Igt is thought that from the above descri tion the operation of the machine will e clearly understood, and that further detail description of the operation will not here be necessary. y A

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as-'new and desire' to protect by Letters Patent is: .y y 1. Bead wrapping apparatus, comprising means for wrapping a strip of fabric about a bead, means forpcutting 0H surplus fabric at the meeting edges of said strip, and means for progressively moving the bead during the wrap ing and cutting operations.

.2. Bead wrappingv apparatus, comprising means for initially applying an edge portion of a strip of fabric to one' face ofl a bead,

the bead past the cutter and means for wrapping thestrip about the bead to meet the first applied portion at one edge of the bead, and means for cutting olf surplus fabric at the meeting edges of the strip.

3. Bead wrapping apparatus, comprising means for primarily applying a strip of fab- 'ric wider than the bead to one face of a bead,

means for folding the projecting edge portion of the strip about the bead to overlap the first applied portion at an edge of the bead, and means for cutting oii' the surplus fabric from the meeting edges ofthe strip.

4. Bead Wrapping apparatus, comprising feeding means, means for wrapping a strip of fabric about the bead, and means automatically operated by the bead to stop the feedn means and the wrapping means when t e end ofthe bead passes through the feeding means.

5. Bead wrapping apparatus, comprising power driven rollers adapted to successively end overand wrap a stri offabric about a bead beginning at one e ge and ending at the same edge, and a power driven knife positioned to intercept and cut off surplus fabric at the meeting` edges of the strip.

6. Bead wrapping a paratus, comprising feeding means, means or wrapping a strip of' fabric about the bead, means for cutting olf surplus fabric at the meeting edges of the strip, and means automatically operated by the bead to-stopthe feeding means and the wrapping means when the end of the bead passes through the feed means.

7. Bead wrapping` apparatus, comprising means for wrappinga strip of fabric about a bead, cutting-means arranged in a plane Anot passing .through the bead for shearin ofi' surplus fabricat the meeting-edge of said strip, and means for progressively moving the bead during the wrapping and cutting operations.

Signed at Detroit, Mich., this 28th day of July 1916.

GEORGE MGNEILL. 

